Spacemasks was founded by Harriet in 2017 after she received a heated facemask as a gift and was inspired to create an affordable, self-heating eye mask for times of stress, fatigue and anxiety.
The brand has gone from strength to strength, winning a host of awards and gaining recognition from the press and customers alike. Harriet lives in London with her husband, four daughters and two wire-haired dachshunds, Gretel and Strudel, and still runs her brand from home. She has a large and loyal Instagram following and is known for her no-nonsense, honest approach to life and her hilarious stories.
A real believer in self-care to keep the overwhelm at bay, she treats herself to regular massages and the odd solo beer and pizza lunch and also swears by a bubblebath – plus of course regular use of Spacemasks!
The Home County Candle Co was founded by Hannah and Oli in 2018. Making the decision that they wanted to do something productive and learn a skill together, they ordered a candle-making kit online, spent a whole weekend practicing, and loved it.
Out for a walk while the candles were setting, they had a little joke about where was better; Bedfordshire where Oli grew up, Hannah’s home county of Buckinghamshire, or Hertfordshire where they now live. With candles on the brain, they started wondering what each county’s candle would smell like, and the rest, as they say, is history! They launched their website with just those three candles and no idea of where it would lead to. Since then, many more fragrances have been added to the collection as the business has quickly grown; by the end of their first year, Hannah and Oi were Small Business Sunday winners, and in July 2019 they won a grant from Dacorum’s Den, allowing them to invest in an iMelt 90 wax melting machine, increasing their daily candle-pouring potential by a whopping 800%!
As a company whose ethos is based on the natural beauty of our varied counties, Hannah and Oli are committed to producing sustainable products with minimal impact on the environment. They are also really passionate about supporting as many local businesses as they can in the manufacture of their candles, so take great care to select suppliers from within the UK, and more specifically the Home Counties, wherever possible.
Kiss The Moon was founded by Jo in 2014 when she realised that her career in advertising, with its wall-to-wall deadlines and constant jetlag, was having a huge impact on her health and wellbeing as a direct result of it affecting her ability to get a good night’s sleep. Driven by the need to get her own sleep back on track, Jo learned that the same part of our brain that controls sleep also manages our sense of smell and realised that aromatherapy held the key – Kiss The Moon was born.
Originally launching as a range of face and body oils, the brand has grown to include bath and body treats and home fragrance, all in Kiss The Moon’s four unique aromatherapy blends. This growth can be put down to Jo and her business partner Anna’s philosophy of ‘dreaming audaciously’ – making sure that they aren’t putting any limits on the brand and that they are aiming big and bold enough. It seems to be working – in their first five years, Kiss The Moon picked up over 30 awards, including the prestigious Best British Beauty Brands at the 2016 Pure Beauty Awards, and things don’t seem to be slowing down – in the 12 months to March 2020 the brand picked up a further 33 awards, including 7 for their Night Cream for Hands alone. They clearly know what they are doing!
Based in the beautiful Yorkshire countryside, Kiss The Moon is against all animal testing. Their products are 100% natural and made in the UK with the best ingredients they can get their hands on – no parabens, no harsh chemicals, no artificial perfumes, no compromise. For them, those things are vital. They are also the only company specialising in products that are specifically designed to help improve our night time wellness, both in terms of sleep and skin repair. In Jo’s words, “We come to life after dark and that’s where we want to focus because we feel people are not paying enough attention to sleep”.